At least the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t blowing like it was yesterday, but it was still pretty chilly outdoors, and was fully reminded of how much different North Iowa can be when a past client of mine showed up this morning just to see how life has been treating me since he and his wife moved to Missouri. The first thing he said when walking in was, “Oh my gosh! I forgot how cold it gets here.” Yes, I’m pretty envious of those who don’t have to suffer thru these coming cold days and months.
Most of my morning was filled with appointments which all went well, and shortly after returning to office, my HVAC person stopped by to do a check-up on my furnace, and luckily everything looked good, so hopefully I’ll not have any issues with it these coming months. The most annoying thing about our high-efficient furnaces, are the thermostats that have a zillion items on their menus, and of course they’re all digital where you can’t just turn a knob to set the temps like in the old days. Yes, technology can sometimes be a great pain where the sun doesn’t shine.
After getting a good look at this week’s report on the homes recently sold, it became one more confirmation of how erratic our market is to where one home will sell $20K over asking price, and a very similar one, will sell nearly $20K under. Having at one point in time or another, I dare say I’ve been in well over 50 percent of the homes that’ve been purchased and sold over the years, so when seeing these great differences in prices for similar homes, I can’t help but scratch my head and ask, “Why?” I’m sure the appraisers are going bonkers as well because there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason to it all.
I’d say well over fifty percent of the homes being sold in today’s market, are either Government loans or cash sales. A red flag goes up for me when seeing the numbers of Government loans on the rise, because that’s telling me many of our buyers aren’t qualified enough to go Conventional. Yes, there has also been a marked rise in VA loans as well, which require no downpayment at all. Like the old saying goes, ‘Easy in makes for an easy out.’ I’ve always felt that whenever someone doesn’t have enough ‘skin’ in the game, it makes for an easier ‘walking away’. I’m now wondering if there’s still a rise in vehicle repossessions due to non-payment, because for a while there, it was becoming a chronic problem.
One of my clients stopped by today to drop something off, and proceeded to talk about the number of businesses she’s aware of that received funds from that Paycheck Protection Program. Since the subject was brought up, I began naming people and companies that I believe were definitely not deserving. We both agreed that those who should’ve received those funds, didn’t, and those that shouldn’t have, did, which upsets me the most. After going thru the list of those here in Mason City who received those funds, I’ve permanently lost my respect for a number of them. I asked my visitor, “How can they sleep nights?” The troubling reply I got was, “Don’t worry about that because they’ve lost touch with the basics of what is right, and what is wrong.” I’ll never understand as long as I live, why for many, the Almighty dollar is first and foremost.”
I got a good laugh yesterday while visiting with a friend of mine regarding the way in which a handful of people I know, who’ve for years, finely-tuned their speaking voices to sound noticeably evocative which I’ve always found a huge turn-off. Wicked me couldn’t help saying, “They remind me of dirty-minded people who’re trying to bend your ear, just to whisper something to you that’s on the smutty side, which has always caused me to bristle.” Just think long and hard about some you know who use their half-whispering and ‘breathy’ voices to draw attention to what they’re saying, because they’re making their words sound like they’re sharing some deep secret from an inner-circle. Remember the old saying where something that’s whispered, is far more believable? My advice is, don’t fall for their mind games.
While on my way back from an appointment on the west side of town, I stopped at Hy-Vee West to pick up a few things I was needing for tomorrow, and while walking thru the meat department, I happened to come across another deeply-discounted in-store special, so I ended up driving away with far more than planned, but that meat will be put to a good use in the future. The aisles were already full of shoppers, and thank goodness I didn’t wait until after our closing hours because I’m sure there were all the more stopping to pick up groceries for their dinners tomorrow.
I’m actually glad I no longer have to endure any more Thanksgiving dinners with close and extended family members, and only because whenever you’re in a large group of people, there are always those side-dramas that get started, which days later, get blown out of proportion. Have you ever been confronted sometime later by one of your guests asking, “Now what exactly did you mean by that?”, which usually had to do with some innocent comment or possibly the ‘way’ in which you answered a question. Yes, no matter how much you try to avoid them, there’s always one or two in a group who fully-enjoy stirring the pot.
With it being the night before Thanksgiving, I dare say I’m more than ready for at least one day to get myself re-charged from the craziest of things that happened this afternoon. It absolutely amazes me how people can hide behind their texting cell phones and emails, and get away with saying things I wouldn’t dare to place in a text or email. I believe half our world’s problems are created by today’s go-to forms of communication. It was bad enough whenever someone was hiding behind a landline phone call, but with our text-messaging and emails, it’s become far worse. It’s no wonder so many have grown brittle.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Resiliency can get you an awfully long way.
